Look out Starbucks and Small World, there's a new drink joint in town, and it's not afraid of the cold.
Students tired of deciding between caffeine vendors while walking on Nassau Street need look no further than the purple and yellow walls of the new Booster Juice for a different sort of pick-me-up.
"We like to be bright, wake you up a little bit," said Michael Pulaski, who owns the new juice and smoothie bar located on Nassau Street a few doors down from CVS.
Business has been steady since the shop's grand opening on Nov. 26, Pulaski said, but winter is always a tricky time of year for juice bars. "People associate smoothies and summer, but at Booster Juice, we think smoothies are a healthy, fun drink, good for all year round."
Booster Juice is a Canadian franchise that, like its Princeton store, first opened during the chilly holiday season. It has since expanded into the United States and now has almost 200 locations across North America.
The Booster Juice in Princeton, which is the only branch in New Jersey, currently sells about 100 smoothies a day, Pulaski estimated. He explained that he chose the location because of the University's proximity and all the walking traffic on Nassau Street.
On a recent afternoon, Lauren Thomas '10 sat on one of the high stools along the chrome bar with her laptop, sipping a smoothie and taking advantage of Booster Juice's wireless internet.
"I love this place," she said. "I'm from Texas, where there are smoothie bars everywhere, so this makes me feel at home. It's cold outside and might even snow, so I'm not sure why I'm drinking a smoothie, but they're just so good!"
The smoothies are made from yogurt, individual quick-freeze fruits and chopped-up frozen fruit chunks. "Frozen fruit takes the place of ice and gives the smoothie the perfect texture," Pulaski said. The yogurt in the smoothies is made in the store.
Booster Juice offers six categories of smoothie: Spirit, Tropical, Berry, Life Choice, High Protein and Power, mostly within the $3 to $5 price range. Pulaski said that "the Strawberry Sunshine is by far the favorite smoothie. It's got strawberry sorbet, real strawberries, bananas, guavas, yogurt and some fruit juice. So good."
Diana Norton '09, another Booster Juice fan, said that the "variety is great, and the taste is wonderful." She does feel, however, that the store could benefit from introducing a watermelon flavor.
Brad Odell, the manager of the Starbucks on Nassau Street, said that he doesn't feel Booster Juice is any real competition.
"I guess Frappuccinos are kind of like smoothies but, really, we do coffee and they do smoothies, so I don't think it'll be an issue."
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